


Affable

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [152]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 21:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7950721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs reflects on Tony's affability</p>
            </blockquote>





	Affable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Appletini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Appletini/gifts).



> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 10/1/1999 for the word [affable](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/1999/10/01/affable).
> 
> affable  
> Easy to speak to;receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner.  
> Gracious; benign.
> 
> Comments, kudos, and constructive criticism greatly appreciated.
> 
> This is for appletini because this is as close to a Gibbs bday thing as my muse managed this year(and she wanted Gibbs bday stories posted) and it's late on top of it.
> 
> Also I expected this to have a lot happier ending than it did. Muse ran off on her own path as usual. Still tried to give at least a little bit of a hopeful ending.

# 

Affable

Gibbs watched Tony chat up yet another witness. Tony truly took affability to another level. Gibbs wished that Tony's affableness was focused on him. He knew in this job being affable made it a lot easier, but it was a skill he'd never managed to cultivate.

Tony was the perfect counterbalance to him not just because of how affable he was, but also because of his many other good qualities. He watched Tony chat easily with someone who just lost her father and wished he could be that affable with Tony. He'd been attracted to Tony, but never did anything about it.

He liked to pretend it was because of rule 12, but in reality he was a coward. He'd tried multiple times to ask Tony out on a date, but he got tongue tied and all that came out were demands for Tony to come to his place for dinner. No matter how good the food he cooked was, he could never make it seem like a date after a start like that.

Sometimes he didn't even bother trying to romance Tony after a start like that and went straight to the booze, pulling out the bourbon and working on his boat. He kept hoping that Tony would realize that the invites to his houses were dates. In fact, when Tony started showing up uninvited Gibbs hoped that meant he'd figured it out.

But when no other sign was given Gibbs returned to his basement and the bourbon dejected. He let Tony babble on or sit in silence, drinking in his presence while hoping for more intimacy and a deeper relationship. He cherished every bit of Tony that was revealed to him and cursed himself for being unable to return the same.

The truth was Tony understood him better than anyone else and he didn't know how that happened especially since Tony remained oblivious to his feelings. Either that or Tony knew about his feelings but didn't return them. Gibbs knew he was no catch. He had 3 ex wives to prove it, but the thought of Tony purposefully ignoring his feelings shook him to the core. The Tony he knew would be up front if he didn't return his affections because the knowing was preferable to the not knowing as one could start to try and recover.

Honestly Gibbs wasn’t sure he'd ever get over Tony even if Tony told him he wasn’t into him. Maybe he should try again tonight. Maybe he could actually ask Tony out properly this time.

**Author's Note:**

> [Autocrat](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8017216) is a sequel of sorts to this one.


End file.
